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Republicans Randy McKinney and Trip Pittman will face off in a Sept. 11 primary run-off for the Senate District 32 seat, representing most of Baldwin County. McKinney received 36% of the vote in last Tuesday’s Republican primary, and Trip Pittman received 29.6%. The seat became open when Sen. Bradley Byrne was appointed by Gov. Bob Riley to head the troubled two-year college system.
Mr. McKinney stopped by the Political Parlor for a brief chat. (His campaign website can be found here.)
On the State Board of Education, you represent 1 of every 8 Alabamians. In the state Senate you would represent 1 of 35. Why would you trade one for the other especially during a time when the SBOE is dealing with such important issues?
I believe there are a lot of issues we deal with on the State Board of Education that we can deal with on a higher level. I believe we can ultimately eliminate double dipping not just in two-year schools but in several agencies.
Such as?
Four year schools. My belief is that if you get a state paycheck, you should not serve in the legislature. We should have ‘citizen legislators,’ not ’state employee legislators.’
I understand ALFA supports you in a public and substantial way. And I understand their reputation has taken something of a beating on the coast. Do you expect their support to be any problem for you?
Well, actually, it’s the Farmers Federation. [Note: Many speak of ALFA endorsing this candidate or that candidate, but it is the parent company, the Alabama Farmers Federation, that endorses candidates. The Alabama Farmers Federation founded ALFA in 1946.] They interviewed everyone. Sat down with the farmers here, and they interviewed every candidate and decided to support me. Same with BCA [Business Council of Alabama], GUMBO [Gulf United Metro Business Organizations], and the Realtors. Well, the Realtors didn’t interview everyone, they knew me enough to say, “Randy, we’ll support you.”
Every candidate asked for their endorsements. My opponent says now he will not accept PAC money. I find it interesting that my opponent asked for it, now he says he doesn’t want it.
How much money do you think the campaign will need for this stretch between now and the primary run-off?
$150,000 or $200,000. Unfortunately.
Do you think you will be able to raise that kind of money?
If I get on the phone and raise it, I will.
Someone in the district told me that he didn’t feel like many issues had been raised, that the candidates were running “good guy kinda campaigns,” as in “Vote for me because I’m a good guy.” Did you try to raise issues that went unnoticed by some?
That’s not true [about issues not being raised]. Go to my website, www.randymckinney.com and click on “real issues.” You’ll see that we are talking about the issues.
What are the issues for your campaign?
Property tax valuation. Illegal immigration. Insurance affordability and availability is hurting our economy right now; some of this is localized. Infrastructure.
And I understand that you would impose a term limit on yourself if you are elected?
That’s right. Three terms is the most I would serve if I am elected.
In the course of our conversation, McKinney told about automated phone calls made that were designed to hurt his campaign.
Automated calls went out with my voice on it. People thought it was from me, but it wasn’t. What happened was that several weeks ago, calls went out with a survey asking people to tell who they were likely to vote for. ‘Push this button for this candidate.’ ‘Push this button for McKinney.’ Then it would say “Push this button if you want a yard sign.” People were coming up to me saying that they never got the yard sign.
I asked my people, “Are those calls from us?” And they said, “No.” Evidently what they were doing was gathering a list of McKinney voters so they could target them in phone calls.
Saturday, Sunday, and Monday these calls went out. There were two kinds. Some were negative, ’smear campaign’ calls. The others appeared to be supportive of me and used my voice. But people got multiple calls. People would tell me, “I was going to vote for you, but after the 12th call today, enough’s enough.”
They went out Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, so it was very difficult to respond [before the Tuesday election]. They were very abusive to people’s privacy and their homes.
The winner of the September 11 primary run-off between Randy McKinney and Trip Pittman will face Democrat A. J. Cooper in the special general election on October 16.
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2010 House Elections
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So, McKinney is about the insurance issue on the coast and property valuation.
Interesting, when Alfa is running his campaign and they have canceled thousands of policies on the coast.
And everytime I see some sort of ad for McKinney, he’s in a loving embrace with Bob Riley. Baldwin County is tired of their property taxes going through the roof, and they lay the blame at the Governor’s feet.
McKinney answers to the political muscle of Montgomery, pure and simple.
ALFA raised my insurance rates and Riley and his revenue dept. raised my taxes and they are both for McKinney. Maybe you can really know people by the company they keep–Pittman got’ my vote.
I think McKinney’s done a good job on the School Board, so I’d rather leave him there and send Pittman to Montgomery. That’s the best of both worlds.
Or a better idea would be to reward Randy for the good job you said he’s done and send him to the Senate. Gov. Riley could then appoint Pittman to the school board, especially since Pittman has previously served on ACHE. Sounds like a MUCH better idea, doesn’t it?
Sounds like Chris Brown, who is consulting on Pittman’s campaign, is up to some of his dirty tricks.
I am not sure Riley would appoint Pittman to the school board since Pittman didn’t support the Riley/McKinney/Hubbert tax hike in 2003. Riley wants people he can boss around and make do whatever he wants even if it’s raising our taxes.
[...] Randy McKinney in the Political Parlor [...]
If you’re going to leave Sound-off style comments, you might as well do so in the press register… Otherwise give actual background in your comments.
On another note, Mckinney clearly has the support of Montgomery, and possibly the AEA. The interesting thing about the smear phone calls is that one was based out of Montgomery, the other out of Mobile… (Do a Blue page search of the number) My caller ID listed the numbers as “Alabam…” It sounds like someone with the capabilities to use Phone tree messaging… Am I the only one who recieved phone messages from someone other than Mckinney? Interesting to note the numbers were from the same address.
Sum up: if you want to know who’s leaving the slanderous messages, use available resources and do so… Stop randomly blaming candidates. I’ve presented readers with what I’ve found using online blue pages. you can do the same for yourself if you’d like.
Sounds to me like Randy Mckinney represents special interest groups. I’ll give Trip Pittman my vote.
Randy McKinney has proved himself over and over to be THE honest, honorable, knowledgeable candidate for Senator. You saw and heard that all the smear tactics came from Pittman, but NOT ONE SINGLE SLUR came from Randy McKinney. We much prefer the candidate who holds himself to a higher standard…Randy McKinney.
Anonymous in Comment #10,
Most of the readers here did not see and hear any smear tactics that came from Pittman – particularly since most of the readers don’t live in Senate District 32. Could you tell us specifically what they were?
The observer I talked to from the Senate District told me that McKinney’s ads were more “pointed,” i.e. negative, than Pittman’s, and that Pittman might should have been more pointed himself. He gave me examples of McKinney’s ads.
Some really took offense at McKinney’s ad saying that Democratic Party Chair Joe Turnham supports Pittman, when that was based on an endorsement from a group that Turnham has not been a part of for years.
I haven’t heard any specific examples of how Pittman was campaigning negatively. Could you provide some?
Thank you.
Danny
Danny, I can assure you that as with any campaign the positives for one candidate were negatives for another… The same thing that made Mckinney attractive to Gulf Shores/ Orange Beach made him unattractive on the eastern shore. As for specific negative ads there weren’t any particular “negative” ads. There were fliers that pointed out PAC support, but that was the only mailer/ad I saw. Danny, Thanks for your pointed blogging, we can count on your objectivism.